Sinopoli celebration: Tapping elusive mysteries

Emily Gunter performed the 2006 solo "Becoming," choreography by Ellen Sinopoli, for the company's 35th anniversary. (Photo by Gary Gold)

For her 35th anniversary, the Ellen Sinopoli Dance Company was back at its home theater to offer a program that was less of a celebration and more of a mediation.
 
At The Egg, the small ensemble of six strong female dancers moved through the company’s history of shimmering collaborations with artists and musicians. Apart from “Filament” with the audacious junkman composer Don Knaack and the bright Egg Kids, the program was a mindfully serious – one that delved into the mystery of life itself.
 
Even Sinopoli’s latest work to music by George Gershwin – “Silken Threads” touched on the delicacy of the rhythms not so much the sassy sophistication inherent in the compositions. The recorded songs, “Short Story,” “Melody #17” and “All the Livelong Day,” were performed beautifully by pianist Kevin Cole. The ending, with the dancers reposed, resting on each other was lovely. But the piece was missing the buoyancy that the music begs for.
 
“Silken Threads” was one of those dances that Sinopoli will likely tinker with until it lands just right – as she had with the other older pieces on the program including “Clusters.” This 1995 work, that now includes photographs of trees and clouds by Thom O’Connor, opened the packed program. This piece shimmered with the sextet – in white silk tops and pants – bending and bowing to an invisible breeze. The music, by Mugam Sayagi, was subtle. First quiet – like when one first enters a grove of trees – and then rising in sounds when one opens their ears. “Clusters” was gorgeous. The addition of the photographs added this whole new sensibility, which was wonderful.
 
“Filament,” from 2012, was also a delight. Knaack, positioned upstage, banged, rattled and blew on numerous found objects as the dancers reacted by popping, jerking and racing about in an electrified romp. This was one of those dances where the eye doesn’t know where to look – to the tumbler, the jumper or the man behind a set of plastic buckets and plumbing hoses.
 
The solo “Becoming,” to music by Zoe B. Zak, from 2006 was also a highlight. A reaching and striving Emily Gunter brought forth the longing in a Rainer Maria Rilke poem that seeks identity in an ever-shifting world.
 
Gunter shared the program with Sinopoli, presenting her own premiere of “Dactylic Bounds.” Set to atmospheric music by A Sound Healer, Steve Reich, Matthew Duvall, Third Coast Percussion and Tryshe Dhevney, the piece was centered on the meeting of Medea, Medusa, Circe, Cassandra and the Maenads in an ode to sorcery and the power of women. The enigmatic work, however, was one of those that requires a second viewing and reading the program first in order to grasp it.
 
Also, on the bill was barkha patel’s “Zikr,” an Urdu word meaning remembrance. Dressed in long golden smocks, a single dancer appeared haunted by the pounding feet and clapping hands inserting themselves into her mental rhythm. As others came out of the shadows to join her in her isolation, they wove a society that acknowledged pain, but fed on unity.
 
Lastly, but not least, were the wonderful Egg Kids who enlivened the mainly sober program with another piece by Gunter. Titled “Meridian Juncture,” the work featured 11 teen dancers creating lines, circles and intersecting patterns – demonstrating simplicity often creates the most lively inventions.

On another note, I wonder if this was Sinpoli's swan song at The Egg. The new management has turned away from dance with no performance planned in the coming months. It's a shame as The Egg was one of the few havens for dance in the Capital Region. I hope the theater continues to support Sinopoli, but I'm not betting on it.